Predisolone addiction

[bushpilot]

My son was prescribed predisolone a year or so ago for what was incorrectly diagnosed as a pericarditis. Now he can't get off the steroid.....when he reduces the amount at a certain level he experiences pain and stress and needs to go back to higher levels.

Is there a rehab clinic near Buffalo, NY or Syracuse?

[road2recovery]

OMG you did nothing wrong.....you dont' have to apologize for trying to help whether you repeated what someone else said or not.

[morganave]

My neighbor has taken meds like this for years, he told me that he must be weaned off when he is to stop.  Speak to your DR.

[starfish1963]

Please report back to me, my husband experiences a lot of what you have said and I would like to know what causes it and how to help him address the problem and find solutions.  I'm 1000% positive in his case it isn't addressing the problem only treating the symptoms IMHO but I'm not a doctor...any help would be so much appreciated thank you in advance :)

[bushpilot]

The problem when predisolone is taken for an extended period of time is that it causes the adrenal gland to shut down....as we know adrenaline is the 'fight or flight' hormone. Lacking adrenaline, as my son tries to taper off this steroid and achieve a minimum dose he starts to experience chest pain and his ability to handle normal stress decreases. He is then forced to increase the steroid dosage back to the clinical level he was previously taking.

This may not be a true 'Addiction' but it is definitely a dependancy due to the damage it has caused the adrenal gland....this damage is probably non reversable. Also people on extended use of predisolone are prone to osteoporosis and physcological problems.

I am in the process of contacting a drug rehabilitation institute for their recommendations.

[starfish1963]

predisolone is used to treat a number of things....I find when my husband is on it and comes off of it he is very irritated by the slightest things and I strongly feels that it depresses him as well but he is prone to depression due to other health issues, but he takes the six pack treatment and it tapers down, only to have to start taking it AGAIN shortly after...with his other meds it's a constant up and down battle...maybe you are mistaking mood swings for wd?  Don't know what your sons case is but it would be best to talk it over with his doctor.

[luppygirl]

thanks for saying that but it seemed one person on this thread got offended when i dared repeat something they said.  It sure doesn't make you feel welcomed or comfortable sharing information when someone says something like that and really think that i was saying sorry for real.  I really thought my sarcasm could be seen from a mile away...lol....i know for the person who originally posted the question this is serious to this person so I apoligize  to that person for my sarcasm on there post it wasn't intended to take away from there concerns and worries

[Madisonjsmom]

You did not make a mistake.  I am sure the poster appreciated your response. Thanks for the detail and researching it for them.

[luppygirl]

I was being sarcastic!!!

[TrayCee]

that'd be great, Thanks!

[luppygirl]

so sorry... I didn't mean to insult you by repeating what you said I had just wanted to go into a little more detail. I guess i better be careful what I type but i didn't realize repeating something would be an issue I will make sure I never make that mistake again!!!!!!!!!

[TrayCee]

"I just went and looked it up on the internet.  There is nothing that suggests that it is physically addicting."

didnt I just say that?

[luppygirl]

I just went and looked it up on the internet.  There is nothing that suggests that it is physically addicting.  It sounds pretty similar to prednisone which is a steroid which I have taken.  The only thing you should do when coming of this drug is taper down because it is dangerous to stop suddenly especially if you have been on it a long time.  Your body stops producing cortisol when taking this steroid so if you stop suddenly all of a sudden you body doesn't have any cortisol being produced which is not good for you at all.  It is not a narcotic drug so I really don't think that they have rehab for this.  You just have to taper slowly and how slowly depends on how long he was taking it for and how high the dosage was.  If you can get it tapered down to .5 mg then it should make stopping much easier and less dangerous.

[TrayCee]

I can find ANYTHING on the net to suggest Prednisolone is physically addicting  

Is he mentally addicted?

[luppygirl]

What is predisolone?  I have never heard of it so I am not sure what can said about it